Category Archives: The Daily Feed

The Daily Feed
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A Barack Stars deal

Seth Weitberg next to the man he impersonates in the show, Rahm Emanuel

Seth Weitberg next to the man he impersonates in the show, Rahm Emanuel
Photo courtesy of Woolly Mammoth

If you were at all interested in catching the Second City “Barack Stars” show at Woolly but were turned off by the price, here’s your chance: they’ve added an 11pm show for this Friday that will be almost half the normal $40 ticket price. $25 plus the cost of whatever caffeinated awakeness-enhancer you need to get yourself there is a pretty good deal. I’d suggest having a few drinks next door at Rasika, which always has neat drinks on offer.

Essential DC, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Golds Gym Cuts Towel Service, Grossness Ensues

Photo courtesy of
‘GOLD’S GYM’
courtesy of ‘Leo Reynolds’

I’m a member of my friendly, local Gold’s Gym. I even say it in my “about me” authors profile. I have a gym crush on my Gold’s, and it’s the cheapest membership I can find in the locations I need my gym to be and I have the best personal trainer in all the land. But ya’ll, Golds is taking a turn for the seriously nasty, as they’re cutting their free towel service. Now, I realize we’re in a bad economy, and I realize that washing a bajillion loads of towels isn’t cost effective for their bottom line, nor is it very environmentally friendly. But the alternative? The alternative is bad.

Here is how I envision this working – I pop into the gym, and spot burly big men, sweating all over the weight machine, having nothing but paper towels to wipe it up with. You see where I’m going here? SWEAT, is nasty. Big burly man sweat? Even nastier. Paper towels? Very un-environmentally friendly, as people pull of yards of towels in one fail swoop. Here we have a sanitation, customer service, and environmentally conscious EPIC FAIL.

I get that I can go to Target and buy some wash cloths and bring them to the gym with me. I will do that, in fact. I hope EVERYONE at Gold’s will do that. But not everyone will (looking at you big burly sweaty paper towel loving man) and we’ll be stuck with a nasty problem. Also, I pay good money for my membership, and towels were included when I signed up. I also pay for my laundry, stupid coin operated apartment complex machine, and so it’s now an added expense. Sigh. What’s next? Taking out the water fountains and forcing us to bring our own or buy bottled?

People, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Safe Shores Still Needs Backpacks!

Photo courtesy of
‘Show Off Your Supplies!’
courtesy of ‘queercatkitten’

Just a friendly reminder to all our readers that Safe Shores is still looking for people to donate backpacks, duffel bags and school supplies! They’ve even extended the deadline to August 7th for collection.

Safe Shores serves child and youth victims of abuse and witnesses to violence, with over 800 children and youth served annually. As children come in to Safe Shores, they’re often brought there directly from a crime scene, or directly on their way to foster care, so sometimes they aren’t in the best shape (as I’m sure you can imagine) and so Safe Shores staff will give them new clothing, duffel bags, and backpacks to take with them. They’re running low on supplies right now for their annual back to school drive. In short:

Who: YOU!
What: Duffel bags full of children’s clothes or a backpack full of school supplies (or both!)
Where: Drop them off at 300 E Street, NW location (practically on top of Judiciary Square Metro Station, and in short walking distance of Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro)
When: Now til August 7th during normal operating hours (8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday).
Why: Cause you love DC, and part of loving DC is loving our younger, cuter residents in need. Plus, ’cause shopping is good times, and you’ll get warm fuzzy feelings.

The Daily Feed
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This Just In: Columbia Heights No Longer Cool

Photo courtesy of
‘Target entrance @ Columbia Heights’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

In a somewhat interesting and mildly thought provoking (yet mildly silly) piece of journalism, the Washington Post has written an article on how the now one year old Target of Columbia Heights has changed the hipster culture and the neighborhood’s appeal. You see, Columbia Heights is no longer cool because Target doesn’t lock-up it’s deodorant. In fact, it offers a much larger variety than the local CVS and features it in a brightly lighted aisle! SO not hip.

If you are a true hipster, you’ll move to Anacostia. That’s what the dude quoted in the article did. And he got out before the Target. Now that’s hip.

I’m all for local neighborhood character. D.C. has a lot of it and is a big reason why I love it here. But can we please move past this whole “hip” thing? Neighborhoods don’t have to be dangerous and sketchy in order to be a cool place to live, with or without a Target.

Stay hip, Washington.

(Disclaimer: I am not an actual hipster)

The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Vandals Smashing DC’s New Bus Shelters

Photo courtesy of
‘shelter’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Much like kids jumping on a just-made bed, vandals have been going around DC and smashing the shiny new glass in dozens of new bus shelters around the district. They’re guessing that someone is just driving around shooting the glass out for no real reason. I’m guessing it’s someone with an attraction to shiny things who enjoys the big noise it makes when the glass breaks all over the sidewalk. If anyone has information on the crimes, they should call the city’s non-emergency line at 311.

Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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O’Malley to Metro: Light Rail!

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_7886’
courtesy of ‘Chas Redmond’

While it’s no Monorail, Governor Martin O’Malley says that the proposed 16-mile Purple Line should be light rail, calling it the “locally-preferred alternative”. The proposed line would run from New Carrolton metro to Bethesda metro, stopping at Silver Spring and College Park along the way. The line, as it stands, is still entirely unfunded, but now that a decision has been made regarding bus/rail, Governor O’Malley can put together a proposal for federal transit funding.

The Daily Feed
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Get Off the Phone!

Photo courtesy of
‘passenger’s view’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

The New York Times has an article out today discussing how cabbies have ignored the cell phone ban in New York City, which forbids taxi drivers to speak on cell phones, even with hands-free devices.  Here in the District, we have a hands-free driving law that went into effect five years ago, in July 2004, and it bans motorists from speaking on the phone without a hands-free device except in emergency situations.  I’ve noticed that taxi drivers are some of the worst offenders in our city– it seems 50/50 that I’ll be getting into a cab with a driver who has a cell phone in his hand.  The cell phone ban is rarely enforced in New York, and that seems to be the case here in DC as well.

Taxi drivers claim that they are better equipped to handle a cell phone and a vehicle because they are professional drivers, and that having a cell phone breaks up the monotony of 12-hour shifts.  But when a driver is distracted by a phone, he’s more likely to miss traffic signals or drive erratically (try this fun Times game to see how difficult it really is to use a phone and drive at the same time). What to do if your taxi driver is talking on the phone?  You can always ask him to hang up, or get out of the cab if it is affecting his driving.  If you’d like to log a complaint, take down his name and vehicle license tag (which should be displayed prominently), and report it to the DC Taxicab Commission.

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed
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AG Nickles In Hot Water

Photo courtesy of
‘that’s, like, way tubular, dude’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

It was a rough week for DC Attorney General Peter Nickles last week. Between getting dressed down by a Circuit Court judge for failing to provide a series of papers and Ward 3 councilwoman Mary Cheh’s suggestion that he resign on Friday, it’s looking like the AG will have his name attached to adjectives like “beleaguered” and “embattled.” With Judge Emmet Sullivan considering an independent investigation of the AG’s office related to the Pershing Park incident in 2002, where protestors during IMF/World Bank weekend were arrested improperly. Nickles is now playing hard to get with the media, telling City Paper’s Jason Cherkis that he won’t return his calls.

Here’s hoping we start to get some answers. Councilman Mendelssohn? Perhaps you’d better start that investigation.

Downtown, Penn Quarter, The Daily Feed
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Hopes for Shaw and Penn Quarter Revitalization with New Convention Center Marriott


‘look up’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

If you’ve wandered around downtown at all recently, you can’t help but notice the dichotomy of the Shaw-bordering-Penn Quarter neighborhood: the new Sexy Safeway and the upcoming Buddha Bar sandwiching a dismal and run-down street where police find their fair share of activity. You can’t help but wonder when all the vacant NEW buildings will be filled, let alone who is going to take care of the aforementioned pockets of gloom.

Well, there seems to be some good news. After a decade of discussions dating from 1998, DC’s City Council finally voted to approve $206 million in public money to help fund one of only three Marriott Marquis hotels in the world across the street from the Convention Center at 9th and Massachusetts. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro Train Door Opens. Halfway. On Wrong Side. On Moving Train. In Tunnel.

Orange Line train door only half-open

The photo above is not of the door in question, but the Washington Post and NBC Washington tell us “the left panel in the middle door of a middle car came open and that the door closed as soon as the operator hit the brakes” on the Orange Line at rush hour yesterday, while the train was moving between stations. Fortunately no one fell out, and Metro is “investigating.” (Hat tip to UnsuckDCMetro Twitter.)

Crime & Punishment, The Daily Feed
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MPD is Hands-On for National Night Out

Photo courtesy of
‘blue peloton’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Tonight is National Night Out, an organized night out to fight crime and prevent drug use. It’s also the sixth use of All-Hands-On-Deck (AHOD) for MPD. The first five AHOD weekends resulted in nearly 2,400 arrests and seizure of $30,000 in drugs. There will be events in all seven of the MPD Police Districts, even though the release lists only six.


View National Night Out Locations – DC in a larger map

In addition, THEARC is putting on a concert at their location on Mississippi Ave SE, featuring Tabi Bonney and Tanya Blount.

MPD Officers will be on-duty as part of AHOD through Wednesday morning.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Legg Mason Heating Up


Scott Oudsema by Max Cook

Contributed by Paula Schumann

Qualifying rounds at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic whet my appetite for what promises to be an exciting tournament.  Lots of big names are attending this year, among them Lleyton Hewitt, John Isner, Tommy Robredo, Tommy Haas, Robin Solderling, and of course, Andy Roddick, a Legg Mason favorite.  Andy is having an exceptional summer, coming off the astonishing final match with Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Victory Garden Harvest


Today’s harvest from the WLDC dirtlab
Originally uploaded by tiffany bridge

We made a little trip out to the We Love DC Dirt Lab this weekend to check on the large garden plot. It took three people to carry the harvest back into the house. What you see there is a pile of chili peppers, 6 heirloom tomatoes, two enormous zucchini, three enormous squash, and not even a tenth of the basil patch. That’s not the first squash we’ve gotten out of it, either.

We cut up one of the tomatoes right away and as we devoured it, we asked ourselves why people continue to subject themselves to gross supermarket tomatoes, especially in winter. If you buy nothing else from your local farmers market, buy your tomatoes there in season. I promise you will not regret it.

The Daily Feed
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Ritz wrapup

Photo courtesy of
‘new toy’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

It’s only barely DC-related but I figure since we talked about the Ritz bankruptcy, fire sales, and restructuring I should at least link the Washington Post article that details what will happen to the company going forward.

There’s not too much new there from when I told you last month that the company was looking for a buyer of its assets. As was widely reported at the end of last month, CEO David Ritz managed to cobble together a group of investors and put in a bid for the entirety of the company’s assets. The Post doesn’t specify that the bankruptcy judge has approved the deal but it’s implied so I’m not going to spend the money pulling the documents from PACER.

WaPo says that Ritz indicated in an interview that the new company plans bring in a more hip crowd, though it sounds to me more like they’re simply planning their activities between now and their next bankruptcy. The best indicator may be Ritz’s quote about how the customer base out there Just Doesn’t Get It.

“They don’t understand that you need to archive your history,” he said, “and if you have everything on a hard drive, it’s subject to being lost at any time.”

In my experience, when a business starts talking about how their target market just doesn’t know what’s good for them, it’s a sign of trouble.

Missing from the article is much mention of what the repercussions are going to be for existing customers. The new company, though it shares some of the name with the existing Ritz Camera, will be a different corporation – one that purchased the old companies assets but may not have all or any of its liabilities. If you’ve been sitting on Ritz gift cards or coupons you shouldn’t take this development as a sign that they’re going to be worth something again – those are with the old corporation and it’s going away, even if the sign looks a lot like the old one.

Downtown, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Media, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors, The Mall
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Screen on the Green: On the Waterfront

Photo courtesy of
‘Screen on the Green – 7-14-08’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

For the third movie in its ressurection run, Screen on the Green will feature On the Waterfront this evening. For those of you not in the loop, On the Waterfront is arguably one of the greatest movies of all time. It won 8 Academy Awards and features Marlon Brando in his prime (ladies). The weather is supposed to be beautiful tonight and I highly recommend that you get to the mall to enjoy this film with a thousand of your closest friends. The feature should start around 8:30.

The Daily Feed
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Last Chance to Join Potomac Wiffleball League

Photo courtesy of
‘Wiffle ball’
courtesy of ‘DRB62’

When it comes to DC summer sports, you’ve got your kickball, you’ve got your softball, you’ve got your frisbee and you’ve even got your bocce ball. And, I just found out today, apparently you’ve also got your Wiffleball (?!?). Sure, why not. The Potomac Wiffleball league starts up its summer run this weekend and today is the absolute deadline for getting your team registered. If that’s too little time to register all your friends, you can join as a loner and make some new wiffle ball friends. The cost is $30 per player and play takes place at Ft. Reno Park, just north of the Tenleytown Metro Station.

Downtown, The Daily Feed
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701 Gets A Facelift!

701 interior
Old 701 Interior

Ashok Bajaj, restaurateur extraordinaire announced that 701 will close on August 2 and reopen on August 10th after round-the-clock renovation efforts including a new interior and a new chef. 701 is getting a total facelift featuring a new crystal vinyl bar topped with glass. Another new addition is a semi-private dining area designated with elegant curtain panels that can comfortably seat 24 supplementing the popular 20–seat private dining room.

Guests can anticipate a soothing color scheme of beige, brown and ivory accented by deep azure blue found on the new “Neptune” leather chairs with floral tapestry backs sprinkled throughout the restaurant. Dark rich wood and neutral earth tones provide a welcoming décor against the restaurant’s new backdrop, a striking black and white wall covering.

Bajaj has also tapped Adam Longworth as the new executive chef for 701. Chef Longworth, a 2001 Culinary Institute of America graduate, has worked with Chef Alfred Portale at New York’s acclaimed Gotham Bar and Grill since 2002. After a short stint under Tom Collichio at Gramercy Tavern in 2003, he went to Philadelphia to help Portale open Striped Bass with Chef Christopher Lee, now the executive chef at New York’s Gilt Restaurant.

The Daily Feed
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Eat Like a Spaniard for a Good Cause


‘Croquetas de Conpango’
courtesy of ‘jlastras’

If you head out tomorrow night, Tuesday, to La Tasca in Clarendon, a portion of your check will go to support the Younger Women’s Task Force DC Area chapter. Who doesn’t love paella and sangria? Or even croquetas! (kind of like fried balls of mashed potatoes…delicious.) Their full menu is here.

From the YWTF website:

“The Younger Women’s Task Force, a project of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, is a nationwide, diverse and inclusive grassroots movement dedicated to organizing younger women and their allies to take action on issues that matter most to them. “

Make sure to mention to your server that you are there to support the YWTF so you know that while you eat and drink like a Spaniard (well, at least like a Spaniard in the U.S.), you are contributing to a great cause at the same time! Pencil in some tapas and fun on your schedule for tomorrow…it’s a win-win.

The Daily Feed
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Bluegrass Bonus Monday

Bluegrass at SOVA

For those of you who can’t get enough bluegrass in your life, when banjo thursdays at SOVA Wine and Espresso just aren’t enough, there is tonight at Velvet Lounge. SOVA perennial performers Extension Agents will be performing tonight at the Velvet Lounge tonight, preceded by the Hangin’ Rounders and followed by an open jam session. Doors open at 7:30 and there’s a $5 cover charge.  If even this is not enough to quench your desire for a tall glass of fiddle, SOVA is hosting West Virginia Fiddle Champion Chance McCoy this Saturday night at 8 p.m. There is also a $5 cover for that show.

The Daily Feed
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Less Money for Kids, Higher Taxes for You


‘The puzzled and the sad.’
courtesy of ‘Gin Fizz’

The Washington Post is reporting that D.C. schools will be losing $30 million in funding in FY2010 and smokers will be paying another 50 cents a pack for cigarettes. Among other tax increases and several other service cuts, these changes will become a reality assuming Mayor Fenty signs the latest revised budget that was just recently approved by the city council. He is expected to sign it, despite his original 2006 campaign promises of not raising taxes. But who campaigns saying they’re going to raise taxes anyway? And who can predict a nasty recession that kills city revenues and causes a $666 million budget gap? (Wait…$666 million? Surely Lucifer had something to do with this…)

The general sales tax is increasing by .25% on the dollar to an even 6% and gas prices will be going up a bit as this revised budget also increases the gas tax by 3.5 cents a gallon. About $350 million worth of service cuts had to be made for this budget, which includes significant funding cuts for social services like Bread for the City.

Continue reading →